This invention relates to pump dispensers of the type having a closure attached to a container as commonly used in the dispensing of cleaners and garden chemicals. More specifically, the invention relates to a novel means for attaching the closure to the pump.
It has been customary in the past to provide a pump dispenser body with a closure secured to the body by a flanged sleeve extending up through a hole in the closure top and welded to the body. This has involved a special part and a separate assembly operation.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,361,259 issued Nov. 30, 1982, Douglas Corsette discloses a tubular support for a pump dispenser having an outward flange. The attaching collar has extending inward about the opening in the collar a downwardly inclined fin-like lip past which the flange snaps. When the collar is tightened on the finish, the free end of the lip presses against the root of the flange at the tubular support to effect a seal. This puts great pressure on the thin lip.
The present invention presents structure which permits snap installation of the closure over the flange on the tubular support and, at the same time, presents a downwardly facing horizontal shoulder extending inward from the body of the closure and is readily able to withstand the upward drive exerted by the finish when the collar is screwed tight.
The invention is a closure for a pump dispenser. It comprises an annular collar-like body of resilient material having an axis and an upper portion and a lower portion. The lower portion has on its interior at least one container-securing inward projection. The upper portion has an annular upper surface and an annular inward closure flange formed with an annular upwardly facing inclined lead-in chamfer and a radial bottom shoulder. The upper surface of the closure is formed with a series of spaced arcuate recesses centered on the axis and being of equal radius, the recesses being deeper than the bottom of the flange. The upper portion inward from the arcuate recesses defines an inner wall. Because of the recesses, the wall including the closure flange is sufficiently yielding to stretch outward to snap past the attaching flange on the dispenser having a diameter larger than the inner diameter of the closure flange.